Pick-up device for conveying individual textile coils out of storage



Nov. 11, 1969 H. RAASCH 3,47

PICK-UP DEVICE FOR CONVEYING INDIVIDUAL TEXTILE COILS OUT OF STORAGE Filed Jan. 24, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 M'VENI'OR Nov. I1, 1969 RAASCH PICK'UP DEVICE FOR CONVEYING INDIVIDUAL E COILS UT TORNE Filed Jan. 24, 1968 TEXTII" 0 OF S J 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 a v v v v v r a v.

INVENI'OR United States Patent a 3,477,559 PICK-UP DEVICE; FOR CONVEYING INDIVIDUAL .TEXTILE COILS OUT OF STORAGE Hans Raasch, Rheydt, Germany, assignor to Walter Reiners, Monchen-Gladbach, Germany, a corporation of Germany j H Filed Jan. 24, B68, Ser. No. 700,181 Claims priority, applilczatitgnlglgermany, Feb. 1, 1967,

US. Cl. 198-198 1' Claim My invention relates to pick-up devices for conveying individualtextile coils out of a magazine or other storage with the aid of a transporting device equipped with entrainer troughs for the respective coils. Such devices are known forfexample from the German Patent 1,174,662 or U.S. Patent 3,276,566.

To minimize trouble, the width of the troughs should be only slightly larger than the diameter of the textile coils to be transported. A proper trough width is particularly important if the device is used for operation with spinning cops under conditions that require residual cops or so-called cripples to be transported aside from completely filled cops. If the trough width, on account of different series of spinning products having respectively ditferent diameters, becomes too large, the entering of a cripple cop into a trough may leave sufficient space for entrainment of a second cripple or even of a second full cop. It may also happen that a second cop entering between the first cop and the trough wall, will force the first-entered cop out of the trough without the second cop remaining in the trough. Hence, individual troughs may be bare of cops. It is, therefore, a prerequisite for satisfactory operation of transporting devices with troughs of this type that the width of the troughs be not substantially larger than the diameter of the textile coils to be transported. it

To meet this requirement, it has become known to exchange the transporting belt when changing the diameter of the yarn coils to be transported, for example when changing the diameter of spinning cops by passing from one to another manufacturing series. This, however, is just as time consuming as changing the trough width by exchanging the troughs or employing differently wide longitudinal trough walls.

It is an object of my invention to improve pick-up and conveying devices of the above-mentioned types so as to minimize the time required for changing the width of the transporting troughs.

To this end my invention proceeds from the concept that a simple possibility of adjusting the trough width of such devices can be obtained if each trough wall constitutes a structural unit which is independently adjustable with respect to the opposite trough wall of the same trough as well as relative to the wall of the adjacent trough so that the trough division of the transporting device as a whole remains constant. Based upon this principle it is a more specific feature of my invention to fasten the two longitudinal wall structures of each trough alternately to two parallel endless conveyor members which are synchronously driven and are displaceable relative to each other in the driving direction. The conveyor members preferably are constituted by endless belts but may also consist of any other band-like carrier such as a conveyor chain.

An essential advantage of a pickup conveyor accord: ing to the invention resides in the fact that by simply shifting the two transport members or belts relative to each other, the mutual spacing 'of the trough walls and thereby the trough Width can be changed simultaneously for all of the troughs.

According to another feature of my invention, a particularly good stability is achieved by subdividing at least one of the two transporting members or belts in a direction parallel to the traveling direction, and by arranging the other transport member or belt between the two component parts of the subdivided first member.

' The above-mentioned and other objects, advantages and features of my invention, said features being set forth with particularity in the claim annexed hereto, will be apparent from, and mentioned in, the following with reference to an embodiment of a coil pick-up and conveying device according to the invention illustrated by way of example on the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a partly sectional side elevation of the complete conveying device;

FIG. 2 shows separately and more in detail the lower portion of the conveyor device by a side elevation corresponding to that of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a section along the line IlIIII in FIG. 2.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a magazine 1 containing spinning cops 2 which are to be taken out by means of the conveying device to be issued to a supply chute 4 of a fabricating machine such as a winding machine, the chute 4 being shown only schematically.

The conveying device is provided with a multiplicity of individual troughs 5 which in the present embodiment are constituted by entrainer structures 7 fastened on a carrier 6. The carrier 6 is formed by an endless belt assembly trained over turn-about roller assemblies 8 and 9. The shaft 8a of the lower roller assembly 8 is driven by a motor 10 to move the belt 6 in the direction indicated by an arrow 11. The troughs then entrain individual cops from the magazine 1 in known manner and move them upwardly in order to discharge them into the chute 4.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the shaft 8a of the lower roller assembly 8 carries a driving sheave 12 driven from the motor by a transmission belt. In the illustrated embodiment, the driving roller assembly 8 is constituted by spur gears, and the belt assembly 6 has teeth meshing with those of the spur gears.

As mentioned, the troughs of the conveying device are formed by entrainers 7. The resulting longitudinal wall structures 51a and 51b of each trough are fastened by screw bolts 7a to the carrier belt assembly 6 and can be adjusted relative to each other as well as relative to the wall structures 50b and 52a of the adjacent troughs so that a different trough width 5a will result. The wall structures 50b and 5111 have their respective ends 50b and 51a bent at a right angle so as to extend substantially parallel to the surface of the belt so that, even when the trough width 511 is set to the minimum, no cop can drop into the space between the wall structures 50b and 51a.

To facilitate adjusting the trough width 5a and in accordance with the invention, the belt assembly 6 is subdivided into parallel belts, and the two longitudinal wall structures 51a and 51b of each trough are alternately fastened to the parallel belts which are synchronously driven 'and are adjustable with respect to each other in the belt longitudinal or running direction 11 of the belt. This is particularly apparent from FIG. 3.

As will be seen from FIG. 3, one of the two parallel belts is subdivided into two component portions 61a and 61b. The other transporting belt is similarly composed of two portions 62a and 62b. The trough-wall structures 50b are fastened to the components 62a and 62b of the first transport belt, whereas the trough wall structure 51a is fastened to the components 61a and 61b of the other transport belt. For driving the individual belt components 61a, 61b and 62a, 62b, the lower roller assembly 8 comprises four components 81a, 81b and 82a, 82b, each forming a spur gear. Only the two gears 82a and 82b are secured to the drive shaft 8a by feathers 8b, 80 so as to rotate in fixed angular relation to the shaft. For synchronously driving the component belts, the gears 81a and 81b of the roller assembly 8 are joined with each other by screw bolts 83. Spacer discs 84 maintain the proper axial position of the roller components 81a and 81b and consequently also of the belt components 61a and 61b.

I claim:

1. A pick-up device for conveying individual textile coils, comprising two parallel and synchronously operable endless transport members, a multiplicity of troughs for individual pickup and transportation of the coils, each of said troughs having two longitudinal trough-wall structures mutually spaced in the transporting direction a distance defining the width of the trough, said two troughwall structures being fastened to said two transport members respectively, and means for displacing said transport members relative to each other in said transporting direction to thereby'change said width of said troughs, the wall structure forming the bottom limit of each of said troughs being shaped substantially as an inverted U and the wall structure forming the top limit of each of said troughs being shaped substantially as an upright U, one of the legs of said inverted U-shaped wall structure extending toward the upright U-shaped wall structure forming the top limit of the adjacent trough in overlapping relation to one of the legs of said upright U-shaped wall structure, the amount of overlap being sufiicient to prevent coils from entering between troughs when said transport members are set for minimum trough widths.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,843,453 2/1932 Littlefield 198-168 RICHARD E. AEGERTER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 19853 

